I am less impressed with Hamilton's "success" than I am with McLaren for having signed him.
Ferrari's - or rather Kimi's - secret revealed!
- Thread starter Kaotik
- Start date
You realize of course that he's been a McLaren protege for years, right?
The only interesting thing about McLaren giving him a racing seat is that Ron Dennis usually have gone for more experienced drivers and let their proteges drive for another, smaller team for a while before letting them drive for McLaren.
I'm not really surprised at all. McLaren have fantastic resources behind then and the fact that they have had a considerable budget spike this year due to lots of sponcership from Spanish companies, courtesy of their Alonso signing, it looks like they have the budget to run the wind tunnel 24/7.
However, its not just this, its also due to changes in F1 have come back to favouring their design again - Autosport pointed out in the Christmas issue. For the past few seasons McLarens have been fairly neutral in terms of their balance, so they tend to spread the load quite evenly across all the tires. If you remember two years back they suddenly found competetiveness again - this was due the rules that year not allowing tire changes during the race and so both tire manufacturers basically had to make tires that wore evenly from the fronts to the rears (which also results in a wider front tire), something that suits the McLaren balance very much, but less so the Renault's which are very torque'y cars with a heavy rearward bias. In '06 the change to the rules to allow tire changes again meant that the all round wear wasnt an issue so Michelin went back to a mix that utimately favoured Renault again. Now that Michelin are out of the picture and Bridgestone are basically providing the "control" tires they are producing large front tires, with a more even wear rate - again, playing to balance naturally favoured by McLarens design (and we can see that its absolutely killing Renault and their rearward bias now).
This was actually one of the main concerns when Alonso came to McLaren, that he wouldn't be able to get used to the balance of the chassis. It looked like it wasn't going to be an issue for him through much of testing, however on the strength of the performances on Sunday you may begin to wonder if the balance may begin to favour Hamilton more... (Damn, he's going to be interesting to watch in Europe, when he's on very familiar tracks).
However, its not just this, its also due to changes in F1 have come back to favouring their design again - Autosport pointed out in the Christmas issue. For the past few seasons McLarens have been fairly neutral in terms of their balance, so they tend to spread the load quite evenly across all the tires. If you remember two years back they suddenly found competetiveness again - this was due the rules that year not allowing tire changes during the race and so both tire manufacturers basically had to make tires that wore evenly from the fronts to the rears (which also results in a wider front tire), something that suits the McLaren balance very much, but less so the Renault's which are very torque'y cars with a heavy rearward bias. In '06 the change to the rules to allow tire changes again meant that the all round wear wasnt an issue so Michelin went back to a mix that utimately favoured Renault again. Now that Michelin are out of the picture and Bridgestone are basically providing the "control" tires they are producing large front tires, with a more even wear rate - again, playing to balance naturally favoured by McLarens design (and we can see that its absolutely killing Renault and their rearward bias now).
This was actually one of the main concerns when Alonso came to McLaren, that he wouldn't be able to get used to the balance of the chassis. It looked like it wasn't going to be an issue for him through much of testing, however on the strength of the performances on Sunday you may begin to wonder if the balance may begin to favour Hamilton more... (Damn, he's going to be interesting to watch in Europe, when he's on very familiar tracks).
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
I think Maclaren have also changed their strategy quite a bit. Before, they used to run heavier in fuel, hoping they could outlast everyone and get clear air while everyone pitted before them. Of course by then, their tyres were knackered, and they were often caught in traffic.
Now it seems they realise they can't start halfway down the grid and rely on still having decent tyres and being able to get through the traffic because everyone else has pitted before them. They seem to be actually trying hard to get to the top of the grid so they can start fast and get a clear track in front of them, and control the pace of the cars behind.
Now it seems they realise they can't start halfway down the grid and rely on still having decent tyres and being able to get through the traffic because everyone else has pitted before them. They seem to be actually trying hard to get to the top of the grid so they can start fast and get a clear track in front of them, and control the pace of the cars behind.
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DuckThor Evil
Legend
So they own more than 40% nowadays?
McLaren actually was insanely "gentle" on the Michelin tires, even after the full race their tires, even though changed during the race of course, looked like they're brand new compared to the competitors.
I believe it's the biggest single reason, yes.
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tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Its not. I read about this yesterday. It seems to all come down to the tires. The mclaren is a very balanced car while the Renault is balanced most to the rear of the car. With the new tires the rear tires wear down to fast on the renault. That's why renault is doing so bad and Mclaren is doing so well. Their car is suited more for the kind of tires we have now.
What I know of it now with the RPM limit the engines are all pretty close to each other in term of performance so I doubt that can make the impact it has on mclaren now. Chassis and tires are probably alot more important wich shows if you look at the performance of teams who buy engines from top teams.
Ehm, you seem to mix up "performance" and "reliability" somehow
McLaren was last season probably the most gentle car when it came to the tires, it however didn't stop the engines from blowing up, gearboxes failing and what not. And being balanced on tires again this season, even though the brand is is different and tires as well, wouldn't stop those from happening either.
I never claimed that the performance is due the 19k RPM limit, but the reliability is, at least imo.
Reliability is likely due to the RPM limits. Last year, McLaren was visibly down on HP and Kimi would over drive the car to get it to perform which left the whole car in a delicate state. This led to failures. I'm sure to make up for the lack of power, other components in the car were stressed to the limit to find speed.
This year, with RPM limits, they can go back to strengthening the entire car and not have to worry about power too much. Ofcourse, they always did have the handling balance.
This year, with RPM limits, they can go back to strengthening the entire car and not have to worry about power too much. Ofcourse, they always did have the handling balance.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Ehm, you seem to mix up "performance" and "reliability" somehow
Arhg second time in 2 days i didnt read your posts right
As far as RPM goes wernt there actually teams last year that already limited their engines to 19.000rpm? I remember hearing the Ferrari of last year already didnt output more that that. Wich wouldnt be that strange as they needed to give their engine for this year to the FIA at the end of last season so they probably used the whole season to get their engine for this season right. But I could be wrong here.
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